Aligning with the Keep Britain Working Priorities: Opportunities for the OHA Labour Market
Context
The Keep Britain Working Review (Sir Charlie Mayfield, Nov 2025) sets out a clear national challenge: to reduce health-related economic inactivity and help more people stay healthy, in work, and productive.
These priorities provide substantial scope for all Occupational Health (OH) professionals, clinical and non-clinical alike, and particularly for Occupational Health Advisors (OHAs) to shape the future direction of workforce health strategy across public and private sectors.
This document correlates the priorities highlighted in the review and the necessary workforce planning to meet the new demands.
1. National Priorities Driving the Agenda
| Keep Britain Working Priority | What It Means in Practice |
| Reducing ill-health-related inactivity | Growing demand for early-intervention, return-to-work and preventative OH support. |
| Promoting a “Healthy Working Lifecycle” | A shift towards holistic, end-to-end employee health support from prevention through to recovery. |
| Expanding employer and government partnerships | New multi-sector pilots are emerging where OH capability plays a central role. |
| Focusing on mental health, MSK, and inclusion | Increased need for OHAs with cross-disciplinary clinical experience. |
| Embedding evidence and accountability | Employers seeking measurable impact, including data, outcomes, and real return on investment. |
2. Correlation with the OHA Labour Market
The Keep Britain Working framework directly correlates with several labour market shifts already visible across the OH profession:
| Keep Britain Working Theme | OHA Labour Market Correlation | Why This Matters |
| Workforce inactivity due to health | Rising national demand for qualified OHAs, case managers, and health promotion specialists. | OHA availability is now a key constraint on national productivity gains. |
| “Healthy Working Lifecycle” | Broader capability expectations for OHAs, prevention, data use, and behavioural health. | Employers increasingly value adaptable, multi-skilled professionals. |
| Mental health, MSK, inclusion | Increased competition for clinicians with these specialisms. | Providers and employers with access to these skillsets gain a market edge. |
| Vanguard employer–government pilots | OHAs positioned as the operational link between policy and practice. | Expands opportunities for collaborative, public–private service models. |
| Data-driven accountability | OHAs becoming part of performance reporting frameworks. | The ability to demonstrate measurable impact is becoming commercially differentiating. |
3. Strategic Opportunities for Employers and OH Providers
Both direct employers and third-party OH providers can align their workforce strategies with these national priorities.
Below are suggested focus areas that are gaining traction across the market:
For Employers with Internal OH Teams
- Capability Planning: Reviewing internal OHA capacity against future service demand can highlight where skills development or additional resources may be beneficial.
- Upskilling & Integration: Investing in prevention, data literacy, and inclusion training supports alignment with the “Healthy Working Lifecycle” model.
- Digital Enablement: Using simple, evidence-led health tracking tools can demonstrate outcomes that matter to leadership, absence reduction, return-to-work times, and well-being scores.
- Flexible Delivery Models: Hybrid OH arrangements are helping employers extend reach into dispersed or regional teams.
For Third-Party OH Providers
- Positioning: Framing services around national priorities — such as “workforce reactivation” or “return-to-work acceleration” — resonates with client needs post-report.
- Talent Strategy: Building early partnerships with OH-specialist recruiters can help secure scarce OHA skills ahead of rising 2026 demand.
- Differentiation: Providers able to evidence tangible outcomes are gaining advantage in tenders and long-term contracts.
- Retention Focus: Offering career pathways and flexible contracts supports talent attraction in a competitive market.
4. Outlook: Turning Policy into Opportunity
The Keep Britain Working report is reshaping the relationship between health and productivity.
For the OH community, it offers a moment to move from compliance-driven practice to strategic enablement, supporting employers in keeping people healthy and in work.
As the market accelerates, organisations that anticipate skills needs, invest in OHA capability, and align recruitment with national priorities are likely to be best placed to grow sustainably.
Recruiting Heads continues to work alongside both employers and OH providers, helping them:
- Navigate the changing labour market with up-to-date data and insights;
- Build long-term pipelines of skilled OH professionals; and
- Shape teams that can deliver measurable impact in line with the Keep Britain Working vision.
